This week's b@s videochallenge award ceremony honored the best entries in the video competition of the educational initiative business@school. The winners from Geisenheim, Hanau, Kriftel, Meißen, Oberusel (Taunus), and Wiesbaden produced convincing videos in six different categories. Before the ceremony, the students discussed the school of the future with the video competition's patron Elke Büdenbender.

Berlin, September 15, 2021:  With their analyses of companies in video form, participants in the b@s videochallenge proved their creativity, understanding of business, and media savvy. Using a wide range of approaches, they analyzed the reasons for a business's success and made recommendations for its future. This week, the best videos were honored at an award ceremony. In addition to four first places, sponsored by the competition's four partner companies, two special awards were also presented. 

This year's winners in the competition's four categories:

Adam (15), Béla (15), Konstantin (15), Leonie (16), Leontina (17), and Max (15) of Leibnizschule in Wiesbaden

Fedor (18), Hannah (16), Maximilian (17), and Thomas (18) of Internatsschule Schloss Hansenberg in Geisenheim

Jaden (15) and Maximilian (15) of Frankfurt International School in Oberursel (Taunus)

David (16) and Laurenz (16) of Sächsisches Landesgymnasium Sankt Afra zu Meißen

Special awards for teams from Hanau and Geisenheim/Kriftel

The Youngster Award, for the best video by an entrant from the seventh, eighth, or ninth grade, is meant to promote interest in business topics and provide an opportunity to have fun working with a camera among younger students in particular. This special award went to Dina (16), Mai Thien An (16), Malte (15), Marko (15), Patrick (15), and Tom (16) of Karl-Rehbein-Schule in Hanau for their video about Covestro.

For one week, all visitors to the b@s videochallenge website were able to cast their votes for the videos nominated for the Audience Award. The video about VYTAL created by the sisters Juliana (18, Internatsschule Schloss Hansenberg in Geisenheim) and Fiona (16, Weingartenschule in Kriftel) came out on top, earning 30 percent of all votes.

The winners of the awards sponsored by partner companies can look forward to exclusive looks behind the scenes at these four companies, while the winners of the special awards will be spending a day together with an experience of their choice. You can view all the winning videos and the other nominated entries on the website.

A conversation with patron Elke Büdenbender

Before the awards were presented, the finalists had the opportunity to tell about their everyday experiences. They spoke with Elke Büdenbender, who is a judge, the wife of Germany's president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the patron of the b@s videochallenge—about the benefits of a practical education, the future of schools, and what it was like for them to take part in the competition. "Of course, the boundaries between school and free time have blurred," said Laura Marie, a student from Lünen, while discussing remote learning and classroom instruction. Leonie of Wiesbaden added, "Long-term, remote learning can't be the solution, because the social aspect is missing. But I could definitely see a combination of remote learning and classroom instruction." For these young people, making education practical is only logical. "Sometimes you don't even know why you're learning something. A look at where you see it in real life can help you realize how to use what you learn," said Florian from Dinslaken. After hearing about what the students had gained from participating in the competition, Elke Büdenbender summed it up: "You learned to approach people and communicate with them, to obtain information in other ways, to work together in a team, and to organize yourselves. That's a real challenge."

The teams at the award ceremony were from the following schools: 

Next round starting January 2022

With the b@s videochallenge, the educational initiative business@school has created an offer for students from all types of schools. The task is to analyze one of four companies, based on four questions, in a four-minute video. In the video competition, 14- to 20-year-olds can prove their business and media savvy—and win great prizes. The next round starts in January 2022.

Print-quality photos of the winning teams